Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord.

Candy

Renee

Rosy

Molly

Emily

Shannon

moi

Grace

Mrs. N

Matthew Stuckey

Prayer of Those Suffering Miscarriage

My Lord, the baby is dead!
Why, my Lord—dare I ask why? It will not hear the whisper of the wind or see the beauty of its parents’ face—it will not see the beauty of Your creation or the flame of a sunrise. Why, my Lord?

“Why, My child—do you ask ‘why’? Well, I will tell you why.
You see, the child lives. Instead of the wind he hears the sound of angels singing before My throne.
Instead of the beauty that passes he sees everlasting Beauty—he sees My face.
He was created and lived a short time so the image of his parents imprinted on his face may stand before Me as their personal intercessor.
He knows secrets of heaven unknown to men on earth. He laughs with a special joy that only the innocent possess.

My ways are not the ways of man. I create for My Kingdom and each creature fills a place in that Kingdom that could not be filled by another.
He was created for My joy and his parents’ merits. He has never seen pain or sin. He has never felt hunger or pain. I breathed a soul into a seed, made it grow and called it forth.”

I am humbled before you, my Lord, for questioning Your wisdom, goodness, and love. I speak as a fool—forgive me. I acknowledge Your sovereign rights over life and death. I thank You for the life that began for so short a time to enjoy so long an Eternity. -- Mother M. Angelica

The CDC recommended schools close if a student tested positive for the H1N1 flu aka Swine Flu.

Schools closed. Interestingly, I don't know of a single for profit daycare that closed. And I reallly don't think that every infected student had a SAHM.

Not a single US citizen had died from the flu, and it appeared to be a relatively mild strain. The media switched sides and started trumpeting the 36,000 people die from regular flu every year talking point.

The CDC then clarified that the schools and daycares should close for TWO WEEKS.

4# pork butt roast, 6# pork chops, 2 chickens, 6 packages hot dogs, 12 oz. chorizo, 9# boneless beef steak.We're eating:(UPDATED 5/7/09 to reflect some changes. Husband dear is doing most of the cooking, as I had to go to the hospital for contractions and now I'm on meds that make it difficult to do much of anything, especially at the end of the day.)Sunday: oatmeal, bananas sandwiches, apples fajitas, refried beans, corn on the cob

Saturday: pancakes or eggs leftovers from weekpizza (whole wheat crust topped with olive oil, cheese, and tomatoes)Kids ate all the tomatoes and husband was pretty liberal with the cheese this week.Pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw.

When we do "Burrito Bowls", I pretty much copy cat Qdoba or Chipotle. I lay it out "bar style" and everyone can customize their bowl or burrito. I make a pot of black beans and onions, some rice w/ lime juice and cilantro (add chopped cilantro after cooking the rice!), diced tomatoes, pico de gallo (jalapenos, onions, and tomatoes), cheese, avocado slices or guacamole, sour cream (well, if it was on sale), and corn. This week I might add mango salsa for kicks.

I really like my OB. At this week's appointment, he had some extra time (most patients cancelled due to flooding) and we got to talking. We had an hour long conversation about the causes of skyrocketing STD's in the teen population, air quality on airplanes, Christian witness in a professional setting, and more. It was so much nicer than when Mr X was born - that OB practice had 8 docs and 4 midwives, and it seemed I never saw the same person twice until I had complications and "my" doctor started seeing me consistently. But when X was born, the assisting midwife was someone I had never even met.

3.

Some friends of mine sent me a virtual baby shower. Now I'm in the market for a sling. I have one with rings, but I've never really LOVED it. Are the mei tei/Asian style wraps really as good as they say? The Maya wrap? I want to not drop the baby, nurse, and not get a backache. The sling with rings went over one shoulder and the weight wasn't distributed evenly. I also felt like I needed to keep a hand on the baby because he just didn't feel secure. But front carriers/snuglis aren't really nursing friendly. Recommendations, please!

4.

Speaking of baby slings, Consumer Reports recommends against them. 4 babies have been hurt in the last FIVE years from falling out of them. They recommend using a stroller or infant carrier. The Common Room has some good points about Consumer Reports bias - and some mothers do actually want to touch their babies! Besides, a stroller's not exactly nursing friendly.

Wonder when they are going to recommend against parents using their arms to carry infants? I'm sure babies have been dropped at least once per year.

5.

I found a new site with great activities for littles! Preschool Post offers lessons, printables, and and activities based around a theme (current theme is Spiders). I don't think 3 and 4 year olds need to sit at the school table and do worksheets all day, but it's nice to have something "schoolish" for them to do when they want to join their siblings in the classroom. I'm planning to print out some of the sequencing cards, and the Spider theme has lacing cards for littles to make their own spider web.

6.

More thoughts about the swine flu. I'm not as worried about the swine flu decimating our population; so far, it seems to be about equal or even milder than the common flu.

I'm more worried about how people will react to the sickness. The National Guard has been called out in Wisconsin, there's talk floatiing around about mass vaccinations (of a vaccine that hasn't even been created yet), and states are declaring emergencies (possibly to get funding.) I applaud the aggressive, proactive approach to preventing the spread of the illness (although why do we need the National Guard, but don't need to close the border?).

However, "proactive" can easily cross over into mass hysteria, and that's why I stocked up on children's ibuprofen and other things. If people go nuts, I'm not going to want to go to the store (if it's open). Mexico has shut down government offices, schools, restaurants, and public gathering places. The same happened during last year's hurricane. There was rationing at the grocery store! Are you prepared for that?